Loyola seniors pave way past St. Ignatius
On their night, Zipprich, Gripman lead Ramblers to 3-0 win
By Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW - The Loyola senior class of 2021 has been vital for the Ramblers program. It's helped lay the foundation for the team's success in 2019, this season and for campaigns to come.
Three seniors — Tommy Zipprich, Oscar Blazer and Michael Sullivan — have been key parts of the program since their freshman seasons and reasons for the program’s rise.
On Thursday, St. Ignatius walked into a hornets’ nest.
"From the start, everyone was so focused; everyone was zoned in, ready to go," Zipprich said. "The mentality of all of us, we were ready to go from the start, we knew this game was ours.
"I think we can parallel what the classes before us have done. Guys like David Gripman when we were starting out on varsity, they were great teachers for us. I'd like to think we've done the same for these guys as well. I feel good leaving the program where it's at."
It was only fitting that it was the senior class who led the Ramblers, ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, to their 3-0 win against St. Ignatius on Thursday evening Senior Night festivities at the Munz Campus in Glenview.
Zipprich, who will play at Lehigh University next season, got the hosts started when he cleaned up in the box and slotted a ball past St. Ignatius keeper Nicholas Barkidjija with 14 minutes, 48 seconds to go before the half.
The Ramblers (9-1-0, 4-0-0) were able to shut down the Wolfpack's offense. That's a trait Loyola junior keeper Alex Ainsworth has been proud of this entire season - the ability to take teams out of their rhythm.
"It really starts from the top," he said. "We have a whole press up, and we all work as a unit. When we work together, we're really tough and really hard to break down."
Unfortunately for the Wolfpack (3-5-0, 1-5-0), the Ramblers had control for the majority of the second half as well. Loyola continually peppered Barkidjija, forcing him to make save after save.
If it wasn't for the senior keeper's stellar play, the score may have been worse.
The St. Ignatius offense withered against Loyola. Their only shot on goal came in the first half.
"It was a tight game, especially in the first half, everyone worked hard," St. Ignatius manager Matt Miller said. "We just didn't take shots.
“We had one shot on goal the entire game and that can't happen. We had trouble getting it into the box to our strikers to give them a chance to put the ball away."
Despite the win, Loyola manager Baer Fisher knows there's room for improvement going into the team's final game of the year against Mount Carmel on Saturday.
"We had some good patterns in the attacking front, but we didn't press too well as a group," he said. "It was a bit inconsistent. They played well enough to get the result, but we have some things we can improve on."
Zipprich added his second goal of the night when he took a pass from Dylan Gripman en route to goal and put it past the keeper with 13 minutes left, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead and some breathing room.
Gripman added a goal of his own with 2:20 left in the match to cap the scoring.
Both Gripman and Zipprich knew how important the match was for the Ramblers -- for the league title and the rivalry between the two Jesuit schools.
"This is me, Oscar (Blazer’s) and Michael (Sullivan’s) fourth year on varsity. We lost to Ignatius our first year, beat them our second year and tied them last year and this year is our senior year and we wanted to take that win," Zipprich said. "The Jesuit Cup, it's always a big matchup. They're more of a rival than New Trier by far, in my opinion. We had a lot of support, and we put on a performance."
"It was livid tonight," Gripman said. "Everyone had energy, guys from the sidelines supporting us. We came out here, did our job and put them away."
Ainsworth, who next year will be one of those four-year varsity players, has really been able to look at the example that Zipprich, Blazer and Sullivan have left for the team.
"Every single day, every training, they've been more than welcoming, they've become some of my best friends," Ainsworth said. "Every training they come and compete. They demand the highest level of intensity, and that's why we are what we've become."
Thursday's game marked St. Ignatius's official one-week post-COVID pause, but the return to the pitch hasn't been an easy one. The Wolfpack fell to 1-4-0 since they returned after the break. All four losses came in conference matches.
The results haven't been what the squad wanted, but manager Miller said prior to the game that even though the team didn't have the results it was hoping for, it was nice to see that the players were there to pick their teammates up in times of adversity.
He also had a message leading up to the season's final game Saturday against St. Rita.
"I told them we've got to support the offense quicker, we've got to make better and quicker decisions moving the ball up the field," he said. "If we do that, we've got a chance on Saturday."
Loyola, which clinched at least a tie for the conference crown thanks to the win, has a chance to go undefeated in conference play and win its second Chicago Catholic League Blue Division title in three seasons when it faces Mount Carmel on Saturday.
The Caravan dropped their first conference game Thursday, 1-0 to St. Laurence, who, like Mount Carmel, only has one conference loss, a loss to Loyola.
Starting lineup
St. Ignatius
GK: Nicholas Barkidjija
D: Luke Hogan
D: George Barkidjija
D: Billy Thompson
D: Gavin Troy
D: Brody Hanlon
D: Charlie Kennedy
M: Aidan Hurst
M: Jack Lowe
M: Dillon Kraft
F: Isaac Rice
Loyola
GK: Alex Ainsworth
D: Jack Chalen
D: Liam Brennan
D: Oscar Blazer
D: Mario Hrvojevic
M: Tommy Zipprich
M: Michael Sullivan
M: Will Knox
M: Kevin Hughes
M: Colin Redmond
F: Dylan Gripman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Tommy Zipprich, senior MF/F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Tommy Zipprich (unassisted), 25th minute
Second half
Loyola - Zipprich (Dylan Gripman), 67th minute
Loyola – Gripman (unassisted), 78th minute
On their night, Zipprich, Gripman lead Ramblers to 3-0 win
By Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW - The Loyola senior class of 2021 has been vital for the Ramblers program. It's helped lay the foundation for the team's success in 2019, this season and for campaigns to come.
Three seniors — Tommy Zipprich, Oscar Blazer and Michael Sullivan — have been key parts of the program since their freshman seasons and reasons for the program’s rise.
On Thursday, St. Ignatius walked into a hornets’ nest.
"From the start, everyone was so focused; everyone was zoned in, ready to go," Zipprich said. "The mentality of all of us, we were ready to go from the start, we knew this game was ours.
"I think we can parallel what the classes before us have done. Guys like David Gripman when we were starting out on varsity, they were great teachers for us. I'd like to think we've done the same for these guys as well. I feel good leaving the program where it's at."
It was only fitting that it was the senior class who led the Ramblers, ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, to their 3-0 win against St. Ignatius on Thursday evening Senior Night festivities at the Munz Campus in Glenview.
Zipprich, who will play at Lehigh University next season, got the hosts started when he cleaned up in the box and slotted a ball past St. Ignatius keeper Nicholas Barkidjija with 14 minutes, 48 seconds to go before the half.
The Ramblers (9-1-0, 4-0-0) were able to shut down the Wolfpack's offense. That's a trait Loyola junior keeper Alex Ainsworth has been proud of this entire season - the ability to take teams out of their rhythm.
"It really starts from the top," he said. "We have a whole press up, and we all work as a unit. When we work together, we're really tough and really hard to break down."
Unfortunately for the Wolfpack (3-5-0, 1-5-0), the Ramblers had control for the majority of the second half as well. Loyola continually peppered Barkidjija, forcing him to make save after save.
If it wasn't for the senior keeper's stellar play, the score may have been worse.
The St. Ignatius offense withered against Loyola. Their only shot on goal came in the first half.
"It was a tight game, especially in the first half, everyone worked hard," St. Ignatius manager Matt Miller said. "We just didn't take shots.
“We had one shot on goal the entire game and that can't happen. We had trouble getting it into the box to our strikers to give them a chance to put the ball away."
Despite the win, Loyola manager Baer Fisher knows there's room for improvement going into the team's final game of the year against Mount Carmel on Saturday.
"We had some good patterns in the attacking front, but we didn't press too well as a group," he said. "It was a bit inconsistent. They played well enough to get the result, but we have some things we can improve on."
Zipprich added his second goal of the night when he took a pass from Dylan Gripman en route to goal and put it past the keeper with 13 minutes left, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead and some breathing room.
Gripman added a goal of his own with 2:20 left in the match to cap the scoring.
Both Gripman and Zipprich knew how important the match was for the Ramblers -- for the league title and the rivalry between the two Jesuit schools.
"This is me, Oscar (Blazer’s) and Michael (Sullivan’s) fourth year on varsity. We lost to Ignatius our first year, beat them our second year and tied them last year and this year is our senior year and we wanted to take that win," Zipprich said. "The Jesuit Cup, it's always a big matchup. They're more of a rival than New Trier by far, in my opinion. We had a lot of support, and we put on a performance."
"It was livid tonight," Gripman said. "Everyone had energy, guys from the sidelines supporting us. We came out here, did our job and put them away."
Ainsworth, who next year will be one of those four-year varsity players, has really been able to look at the example that Zipprich, Blazer and Sullivan have left for the team.
"Every single day, every training, they've been more than welcoming, they've become some of my best friends," Ainsworth said. "Every training they come and compete. They demand the highest level of intensity, and that's why we are what we've become."
Thursday's game marked St. Ignatius's official one-week post-COVID pause, but the return to the pitch hasn't been an easy one. The Wolfpack fell to 1-4-0 since they returned after the break. All four losses came in conference matches.
The results haven't been what the squad wanted, but manager Miller said prior to the game that even though the team didn't have the results it was hoping for, it was nice to see that the players were there to pick their teammates up in times of adversity.
He also had a message leading up to the season's final game Saturday against St. Rita.
"I told them we've got to support the offense quicker, we've got to make better and quicker decisions moving the ball up the field," he said. "If we do that, we've got a chance on Saturday."
Loyola, which clinched at least a tie for the conference crown thanks to the win, has a chance to go undefeated in conference play and win its second Chicago Catholic League Blue Division title in three seasons when it faces Mount Carmel on Saturday.
The Caravan dropped their first conference game Thursday, 1-0 to St. Laurence, who, like Mount Carmel, only has one conference loss, a loss to Loyola.
Starting lineup
St. Ignatius
GK: Nicholas Barkidjija
D: Luke Hogan
D: George Barkidjija
D: Billy Thompson
D: Gavin Troy
D: Brody Hanlon
D: Charlie Kennedy
M: Aidan Hurst
M: Jack Lowe
M: Dillon Kraft
F: Isaac Rice
Loyola
GK: Alex Ainsworth
D: Jack Chalen
D: Liam Brennan
D: Oscar Blazer
D: Mario Hrvojevic
M: Tommy Zipprich
M: Michael Sullivan
M: Will Knox
M: Kevin Hughes
M: Colin Redmond
F: Dylan Gripman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Tommy Zipprich, senior MF/F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Tommy Zipprich (unassisted), 25th minute
Second half
Loyola - Zipprich (Dylan Gripman), 67th minute
Loyola – Gripman (unassisted), 78th minute